Eight Hours Away
by Serap-89
Summary: At the beginning of the 5th grade school year, Helga has to move away from Hillwood with her family. They move to the San Juan Island, Friday Harbor, and live on a boat. 4 years later, Arnold talks his parents (he found them!) into visiting her... AH
1. Prelude

Eight Hours Away

By: Serap-89

Prelude

A/N: I decided to write another fan-fic. Yes, I know, I know, I have _too many_ but, oh well, I love this fan-fic so far. It's my best so far, according to me. It's written the best out of all of mine. And I used info I myself know from going to Friday Harbor with my parents, cousins, grandma, and uncle so many times (my uncle has a boat there).

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Hey Arnold! characters, but I do own Helga's new friends, and... two other new characters, but I won't give it away who they are, you'll have to find out on your own by reading this.

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Helga shook out her blonde hair, as she stood on the dock, staring out at the incoming boats. She had only been living there for a short time, but already, she was adjusting to the new way of life she had. She had to admit, it was better than her old life, back in Hillwood, Washington. Sure, she was still in Washington, but now, she lived on an Island, surrounded by people who hadn't known her to be the Elementary School bully that her old 'friends' knew her as before.

You see, about 4 years ago she moved away from Hillwood, and her old life. Now, she lived happier than she had ever been, and her parents paid more attention to her. In fact, she was practically a center of attention, but not for the reason she wanted. When they moved, the reason was because her mother was going to have a baby again, and Bob needed more money. He decided he was going to place a new Beeper emporium on a place that he figured would need more stores, the San Juan Island, Friday Harbor.

Helga sighed as she stood there, remembering about her old friends, and how they took to the news that she was going to move away. She laughed, brushing a lock of hair away from her face, a smile planting itself in the middle of her face.

Flashback, 4 Years Ago

_Helga woke to the sound of her perfect sister squealing for joy about something. She sighed an exasperated sigh, rolled over, and grabbed her watch off the night stand. As she looked at the watch, her face contorted into a scowl, then a sneer. _

_"Olga, why couldn't it have waited 30 more minutes??" she asked, sitting up from her lying down position, and stretching out. She yawned, then placed her watch back in it's rightful spot, right next to her new pink leather covered diary and her trusty purple pen. She then grabbed her trusty purple pen off her night stand, and jumped out from under the covers. She heard more happy shouts from downstairs, and snarled. _Perfect Olga and her stupid perfect happiness. Bleh, makes me feel sick.

_After she had gotten dressed into her normal attire, got all her school supplies ready, brushed her teeth, tied on her shoes, and brushed her golden-rod hair, she quickly descended down the stairs, at full speed. It was the first day of 5th grade, and she didn't want to be late, making her new teacher think she was always tardy. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, suddenly Olga appeared out of nowhere, in front of her, making her gasp and try her best to skid to a stop. All her attempts ended in nothing, as she ended up being smothered by her older sister's embrace._

_"Olga... can't... breathe..." she gasped, as her face began to turn blue. Olga gasped, and placed her 'baby sister' back down on the floor, dusting her off. Helga brushed Olga's hands away from her, and looked up into her sister's face, scowling. "Olga, why on earth did you have to go and squeal this morning?"_

_Olga was just her normal chipper self, Helga figured. Little did she know this was more chipper than her sister usually was, and if she had figured this out, she would be heading for the hills. "Baby Sis, guess what?!" she asked happily, and Helga just rolled her eyes, in an annoyed manner. This was making her later by the minute, and she **really** didn't need her teacher thinking she always was tardy._

_"What is it, Ol-ga?" she asked, and Olga smiled wider, not noticing the extension of the L in her name._

_"You're going to be a big sister!" she exclaimed, and Helga's eyes widened. Then, she laughed, thinking it was a terrible joke being played on her._

_"Ha ha ha ha! Very funny Olga, now, what was it you **really** were going to say?" she asked, and Olga gave her a strange look that made Helga's laughter subside. "Wh-what?? You mean... you weren't joking!?" she asked, one of her eyes practically twitching. Olga smiled, and shook her head, clasping her hands together._

_"Isn't it wonderful?? Now, you will get to feel the love a big sister has for her little sibling!" she said, with a ecstatic sigh. Helga didn't hear anything after that. Her world became a large blur, then she met the floor, and instead of a blur, the world was now nothingness._

_Helga opened her eyes, to see nothing but blurry images, golden color, grey color, purple color, and white color. As her vision began to clear up, she began to realize these colors were people. Finally, she recognized these people as Miriam, Bob, and Olga, and she scowled, wanting to know the reason why she was being stared down at like a parrot eating Chatuea Brione with a knife and fork._

_Then she remembered something, and shot up, hitting her head against Olga's. She grabbed her head, and Olga did likewise, but she didn't lose the worried look that covered her petite face. Helga looked at Miriam, and examined her up and down. "I'm going to be a **what**!?" she asked, grabbing at the sides of her face._

_Miriam smiled, and patted her stomach, as if to confirm Helga's question. "Yes, Helga, honey, I'm having another baby. And that's not all."_

_Helga's face drooped, her eyes widened. "What else could there be?" she asked with a aggravated sigh, burying her face in her hands. This was horrible enough as it was, but now, there was more?_

_Bob nodded his head, and smiled. "I'm moving the whole family, including Olga, to the San Juan Island, Friday Harbor, because we're going to need more money, and they don't have a Big Bob's Beeper's there yet." Helga looked up, her face mirroring her feelings._

_"What...?" she inquired, her voice just barely above a whisper. Tears stung her eyes, and she could feel their threat. It was horrible. First, a new baby in her family, that will take even more attention than perfect Olga. Second, they were moving away from Hillwood... away from Arnold and Phoebe. How could this happen? She knew she was unlucky, but now, she began to think she must be related to Eugene or something, because she didn't know how her life could get any worse. The tears consumed her eyes, and she closed them, trying to not think about the horrible truth._

_Olga looked to Miriam, who looked to Bob, who just shrugged, stood up, and left the room. Miriam looked back to Olga, sighed, and left the room, also. Soon Olga followed, after giving her younger sister a comforting hug. Helga just stayed in the same position, holding her hands in front of her eyes, while her eyes leaked out all of the tears she couldn't shed in front of others., besides her family._

_The day before, Helga had called her school, and disguised her voice as Miriam's, so she could stay home and sulk. Plus, she missed the first hour and a half. Today, she didn't bother doing her hair into her pigtails, wore a pink t-shirt that Olga bought her the day before to make her feel better that had a kitten in a food bowl and said 'Vicious' (even though she wanted to stay home and sulk, Olga made her go shopping with her so she could 'feel better'), and jeans with a flowery design on both pant legs. And she didn't put on her pink bow, shocking her family members._

_She sulkily walked down the stairs, out the door, and onto the bus, not speaking a word to anyone. She placed her change into the box, and began walking down the aisle towards her and Phoebe's seat. All the kids her age, in her class, watched her as she walked by them, with widened eyes._

_When she passed Arnold and Gerald, Arnold didn't notice, but Gerald did, and nudged his best friend in the ribs. Arnold looked to Gerald, frowning. "What is it?" he asked, then noticed Gerald pointing at Helga, and his jaw dropped. The frown was replaced by shock. The day before she was sick, and now, she had an entire new outfit. What did that summer do to her? He wondered in shock, as she sat in the seat behind them._

_Helga looked up, her face not changing. "Oh, hey Football Head, how's it goin'?" she asked, lack of emotion. Arnold noticed this, and gave her a concerned look._

_"Are you all right, Helga? You seem to not be yourself." he stated, and Helga just sighed and shrugged, like it was no big deal._

_"I'm fine, Arnold," she stated simply, turning her head to the open aisle._

_Arnold wasn't convinced. "Are you sure? You almost never call me by my first name only, something has to be wrong." he said, and Helga sighed, closing her eyes._

_"It's none of your business."_

_"You're my friend, of course it's my business."_

_"You actually think of me as a friend?"_

_"Helga, don't change the subject. I know something is wrong, you just aren't telling me."_

_"I **told** you, everything's hunkey dory with me and my stinkin' life."_

_"All right, something is **definitely** wrong."_

_"Arnold, just back off, this is the wrong subject right now."_

_"I'm sorry..."_

_"It's all right."_

_There was a long silence, as Helga stared off to the side and Arnold stared at her. This annoyed Helga, and she could barely keep herself from lashing out and telling him to back away and meddle in other people's affairs. But, another part of told her that she needed to tell him what was the matter._

_"All right, Arnold, fine..."_

_"What?" Arnold asked, his face contorting into a confused and clueless look._

_Helga sighed, and shook her head, her eyes closing. "All right, I'll tell you my problem." Arnold smiled, as Helga began to tell her story._

_When she finished the story, she finally looked to Arnold to see a shocked look on his oddly-shaped face. She figured he would react something like that, but... he also looked... disappointed about something? Why would he be disappointed about something?_

_"Wow..." he said, blinking only once. Helga stared at him for a few minutes, as he absorbed the news slowly. He then blinked again, and looked directly into her eyes. "Whoa... You're going to be a big sister **and** you're moving?" he asked, and Helga nodded her head slowly, looking down at her lap. Arnold scratched his head, trying to grasp everything that was rushing into his head at that minute. He could help but feel horrible that Helga was leaving. Why? He didn't know, and he never would, he figured._

_"Yep, that's the deal, Arnoldo." she said with a heavy sigh, and looked out the window. Phoebe had been sick that day, so she didn't get to say goodbye to Phoebe's face. This upset her more than the fact that she had to leave town._

_Most of her friends reacted with joy, except for Arnold and Phoebe. She called Phoebe when she was on the way to Marysville, where they would stop for lunch, then head out to the ferry landing to take off to Friday harbor. She was soon going to be 8 hours away from her old life._

End Flashback

Helga sighed, and smiled sadly. She missed all her old friends, but her life was better now. She was happier, and that would do. She slowly walked down dock E to her family's boat, and walked on, to be greeted by her younger brother, Thomas Ewert Pataki.

Little did she know, that someone else was thinking about that very same day at that very same time. Someone, who had thoughts about her night and day, and had a football shaped head.

End of Prelude


	2. Convincing and Clumsiness

A/n: I'm glad so many people reviewed! Thanks! ^_^ Oh, and Helgagurl46, yes, she's 14. And Arnold's still 13, because his birthday is in October and Helga's is in March! ^_^  
  
Disclaimer: How many times do I have to do this? I own Hey Arnold! just as much as I own a cotton candy factory.  
  
Arnold sighed, as he stared at the crystal blue water below the bridge. It had been 4 years ago, that two events happened right in a row that changed his life dramatically. One for the better, one for the worse. The one for the worse was the one he thought about most often. It still plagued his mind after all that time, and at some points, it drove him mad. But today, he was thinking about it differently. Helga, his elementary school tormentor, had moved away, to one of the San Juan Islands, called Friday Harbor. Now, he was thinking about something he hadn't ever thought of before, and he almost felt excited.  
  
He smiled, as he heard footsteps coming up behind him. "Hello Arnold," he heard a feminine voice say behind him, then saw the girl's reflection in the water below them.  
  
"Hey Phoebe," he replied, with another sigh. When he looked up, he saw a look of concern etched on her face. At this, he had to chuckle. "Don't worry, Pheebs, I'm fine. I was just thinking..." he around, and leaned back against the rail, looking up.  
  
"Thinking about what?" Phoebe asked, and Arnold just sighed, yet again. This told Phoebe exactly what he was thinking about, and she nodded her head, looking down at her sneaker clad feet. "Thinking about... Helga, correct?" she asked cautiously, giving Arnold a cautious look to fit her voice. Arnold closed his eyes, and slowly nodded his head, one corner of his mouth curling up in a half smile. Phoebe knew that look, from hanging around him and Gerald for 4 years. She smirked, and poked his side. "What are you thinking up, Arnold?"  
  
He just laughed, and shook his head, opening his eyes once again. He looked at Phoebe, now with the half smile turning into a full one. The thoughts in his head were showing on his face, and Phoebe thought she might just know what he was cooking up. "Phoebe, tonight, I'm going to ask my parents if I can go to Friday Harbor and visit Helga's family." he stated, and Phoebe nodded her head, slightly chuckling. She knew that's what he was going to say.  
  
"Yes, I figured you'd say that by the look on your face."  
  
The two friends laughed together, until, suddenly, they heard another voice join their's. They both recognized it instantly. "Hey you two, what's so funny and why didn't you invite me to the fun?"  
The two just smiled, and turned to face Gerald, who stood, smirking at them. Phoebe walked over to him, and wrapped her arms around him, in a tight embrace. Arnold watched as Gerald hugged her back, then they let go, and Phoebe gave Gerald a peck on the cheek, making him blush. Arnold laughed at the two, and scratched the back of his football shaped head, looking down at the cement.  
  
"So, Pheebs, what were you two talking about?" Gerald asked his girlfriend, who just smiled a smiled that Gerald would do anything to see every waking minute of every single day.  
  
"He was just telling me this idea he had." she said, looking back to Arnold, who was now looking back up at the two, with another smile. Gerald raised an eyebrow, that showed that he would like to hear more about this idea his best friend had come up with. "Tonight, Arnold is planning on asking his parents if he can go to Friday Harbor to visit Helga and her family."  
  
Gerald smirked, and looked to his best friend, who was looking over the rail of the bridge, down at that crystal clear blue water below. "So, you couldn't stand it any longer, ay' buddy? Had to go and see your dream girl?"  
  
Before Gerald even finished what he was saying, Arnold had shook his vision from the icy blue water, to Gerald, his eyes wide and his cheeks with a slight pink tinge to them. "What are you talking about!?" he asked, and Gerald laughed out loud, while Phoebe slightly giggled. "I just want to visit her! I don't know her email address, her normal mail address, or her telephone number! All I know is that she lives on a boat called Beeper Kingdom." Gerald raised an eyebrow at him, and he just shrugged, knowing the question which was on Gerald's mind.  
  
"Uh huh, sure buddy. I still say you want to visit her because you suddenly are feeling emotions for her." Gerald said, patting his best friend on the shoulder. Arnold frowned, and shook his head, sighing an exasperated sigh.  
  
"Whatever you say, Gerald, but it's not the truth." And with that, they left towards the closet house, Gerald laughing loudly, Phoebe slightly giggling, and Arnold shaking his head about it.  
  
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Miles, Stella, Arnold, and Lorelei (Arnold has a younger sibling too, in this fic... Thomas and Lorelei are the same age, except Thomas is a month older... kind of like how Helga is 7 months older than Arnold ^_^) all sat at their dining room table, silence filling the room. It was unusual, because normally all of them would talk about something. But the thing was, the conversation usually started with Arnold, and he hadn't spoken a word since he had gotten home. It was like he was afraid to say anything, and as if he did say something, he would be in trouble. His parents noticed this, but hadn't mentioned anything yet, and they figured now would be a good time.  
  
"Arnold, honey, are you all right?" Stella asked worriedly, making her son glance up at her, slightly shocked at the sudden break in the silence. Especially since it was directed at him. He sighed, and looked down at his plate, tapping his fork against the plate. It looked as if he hadn't touched his food even.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, mom..." he said, looking back up with a fake smile. She gave him a look that showed that she didn't believe him. "Well..." he sighed, and then laughed, slightly startling his parents. "I really am fine, but I have a question." he said, scratching his head, his eyes looking down to his plate. Then he looked back up, to see that his parents were obviously waiting to hear what the question was. "I was wondering... um... you see... this old friend of mine moved away 4 years ago, and I want to visit her." he said, and as he did, his parents looked to each other, with knowing looks. Then they looked back to Arnold, who was just staring at them, waiting for the answer.  
  
Stella nodded her head, a normal smile spreading across her face. "Well, I think that could be possible. What do you think?" she questioned her husband, looking to him. He nodded his head, and looked to Arnold.  
  
"Yeah, that's fine. We got nothing planned this week, so, how about we leave tomorrow?" he mentioned, and Arnold's eyes lit up.  
  
"Really!? Ok! Sounds great!" he exclaimed, then noticed Lorelei look up from her plate, to him, with a questioning look.  
  
"Is your fwiend's name Hewga?" she asked, and Arnold raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
"Yeah. How did you know?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at his younger sibling. She smiled innocently, blinking her large brown eyes at him.  
  
"You talk in your sweep, and I heawd you say the name Hewga before." she said, slightly giggling at the deep red blush creeping across her brother's face. "Your face ith tuwning wed." she stated the obvious, and Arnold frowned at her.  
  
As he was about to yell out that he didn't talk in his sleep or if he did he never would say Helga's name, because he never dreamt about her, he heard his dad laugh. He turned around, to glare in his dad's direction. Miles stopped his laughter as soon as he felt Stella hit him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't laugh at your son's embarrassment." she chided her husband.  
  
"Sorry," Miles laughed, and nodded his head at Arnold. "All right then, we'll get packed tonight, and leave first thing in the morning." he stated, and before he had even finished his sentence, Arnold was up and gone out of the room, up to his room.  
  
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As Arnold packed, he continued thinking about tomorrow. What was he going to say when he saw her again? 'Oh, hi Helga! I was missing you, so I talked my parents into bringing me here.' He shook his head, clearing that thought out of his head. He knew what the first thing Helga would say would be. It would be something like, 'Hey, are ya' following me or something, Football Head?! I thought I got away from you 4 years ago!' Well, ok, maybe not that specific, but something to that effect. He laughed at himself as he glanced to a shelf. He furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes caught sight of something pink. He didn't remember having something pink.  
  
He reached up to the shelf, grabbing for whatever the pink thing was. When he got hold of it, his eyes widened. The little pink book! Now he remembered! That annoying little pink book that he and Gerald tried figuring out who wrote. They never found out who. He brought it down, and dusted it off, blowing across the top of it. He smiled as he opened it, and turned to the second to last page. Well, last page, since Helga had torn the last page out. He laughed at the memory, feeling the exact part of his head where that spitball had hit him. He had been pretty ticked at the time, but now, it seemed quite funny.  
  
"What's so funny?" he suddenly heard a voice ask him from the doorway of his room. He jumped up off the chair, and spun around, to see his dad in the doorway. Unfortunately, when he jumped up, the pink book fell off his lap, right onto his foot. He yelped in pain, and fell backwards when he tried holding his foot to stop it from hurting. When he fell backwards, he hit his head on the edge of the bookshelf, making him yelp in pain again.  
  
"Ahh..." he groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "Man, sometimes I wonder if I might be distantly related to Eugene..." he muttered, cringing at the headache he was beginning to get. He looked up to his dad, to see him shaking his head. "What?" he asked, frowning.  
  
"Oh, just thinking about how you got my clumsiness. Too bad. I always hoped you'd end up being more like your mother." he chuckled, walking into the room. He sat down on the bed, watching Arnold stand up from the floor, rubbing his head. "You all right?"  
  
"Yeah, fine, dad." he said, with a slight smile. Then, he grabbed the little pink book off the floor, staring at it. "This book is heavier than I thought it was." he laughed, placing it back up on the bookshelf. He looked back to his dad, who was sitting on the bed, staring at him, and then sat down on his desk chair. "So, what did you want?" he asked, and Miles nodded his head, remembering what he had came into the room before.  
  
"Before I go into why I came in, what was that little pink book you were reading? I don't think I ever saw you reading it before." he said, and Arnold looked up to the pink book, sighing.  
  
"Oh, it was just something I found when I was nine, with a bunch of poems, all about me... And how obsessed someone was with me." he said, with a laugh, and looked back down to his dad, who was nodding his head.  
  
"Ah, I see." he said, also with a laugh. Then he stopped laughing, and looked to Arnold, with a smile. "So, Arnold, this Helga that you want to visit..." he started, and right away, Arnold looked down at the blue carpeting, trying hide his slightly reddening face. He knew where this conversation was going. Miles slightly chuckled at his son's reaction to the start of his question. "From the way you are acting at dinner, it seems like she must have been someone special..."  
  
"No!" Arnold said, snapping his head upwards, and looking directly at his dad, who was still smiling. "She wasn't! All she was was a good friend. That's it. Oh, and my elementary school tormentor." he added, chuckling yet again. He began to drift off into a flashback, when his dad chuckled, and he snapped out of his.  
  
"It's all right Arnold, I understand. You don't want to admit your feelings for this girl yet. I know when I had this large crush when I was your age I never told my parents." Miles said, standing up and heading towards the door. "Well I better be going, your mother is waiting for me." Arnold watched his dad until he got to the door and turned back around. "You better get to hurrying on your packing, we'll be staying for a week and a half, and you only have a weekends worth clothes in your suitcase." Arnold's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. Miles nodded his head at his son's shocked expression. "Your mom and I decided that we would stay longer than originally planned after you left the table." Arnold nodded his head, smiling.  
  
"Well, g'night dad. See you tomorrow." he said, stuffing some more clothes into his suitcase, and not being neat about it. Then remembered something, and before his dad was totally out of hearing range, he called out, "Dad! What should I set my alarm for??"  
  
"6:00 A.M.!" he heard his dad called back, and his eyes widen. 'So early? Why!?' he thought, as he set his alarm, then resumed packing, untidily. 


	3. The Eight Hour Long Trip and More Clumsi...

Arnold lay face down on his pillow, with both of his arms underneath it. Lorelei watched her brother, just lying there, his back going up and down for every breath he took. She giggled at how he could stand have his face flat down on the pillow like that. She hugged her large stuffed black and white cat, and jumped off her bed. Once on the floor, she began walking towards Arnold's bed, with a yawn. It was early, she could tell, but, alas, she was only four, and couldn't read time (or even read period), so she would have to go by how tired she was. She was smart for her age, and thought by the way the lighting and how tired she was, that it was about 6:00. Plus, if Arnold asked her why she woke him up (which is what she is planning on doing), she would have the perfect excuse to use.

  
  


Once she got to Arnold's bed, she dropped her stuffed cat, and climbed up onto the bed. Arnold mumbled something inaudible, making Lorelei laugh. She climbed up onto his back, and slightly hopped, making Arnold jump awake. This was just as his alarm went off, so it was just around the time Lorelei thought it was. "I'm awake!" he shouted, then heard a giggle come from behind him. He looked over his shoulder, to see Lorelei lying on her back, giggling.

  
  


"Mowning!" she chirped, then jumped off the bed, and ran to her bed. Arnold slightly snarled, and dropped his head back down onto the pillow. How he wished that his sister had another room. Yeah, he thought his 'relationship' with her was 'special,' but he got tired of staying in the same room as her all the time. She always woke him up way too early, and the way she did was rough.

  
  


He stayed there for a few minutes, until he heard footsteps coming down the hall, and he remembered why he had set his alarm. He jumped up, and rushed to his dresser drawer. After practically kicking Lorelei out of the room, he got dressed, and then rushed out the door to the bathroom to brush his teeth. As soon as he finished with his teeth, he rushed back to his room, grabbed his suitcase, and rushed down the stairs, past his parents and Lorelei, who were walking down the stairs. The other three laughed at how he wasn't even stopping for a second.

  
  


When they got outside, they saw Arnold sitting in the backseat of the car, waiting impatiently. The three got into the car, and they took off on the eight hour long ride.

  
  


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About 2 hours into the trip, Lorelei and Stella were asleep, Miles was, of course, driving, and Arnold was watching out the window. Arnold had been thinking about why his parents had actually said yes to going on a eight hour long trip. It made sense to him at the time, but now, it didn't make an ounce of sense. He turned away from the window, to face forward. He sat forward, and grabbed the sides of the seat in front of him. "Hey, dad? I was wondering. Why exactly did you and mom say 'yes' to going on this trip? And how do you know where Friday Harbor is?!" that was another question that plagued his mind.

  
  


His dad just nodded his head, continuing to face the road. "Well, Arnold, the reason we said yes was because we were already thinking about taking a trip soon, but we couldn't decide where. You decided for us. And the reason why I know where Friday Harbor is, is because I went there once, before I met your mom. I think it was a year before."

  
  


He smiled, and nodded his head, knowing exactly what his dad was saying. He had heard his parents talking about taking a trip earlier that week, but he had forgotten until now.

  
  
  
  


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Arnold sighed as he waited for his mom and sister to come out of the restroom. They had already been in there for 5 minutes, what was taking so long? He drummed his fingers against his knee and sighed an exasperated sigh. 

  
  


A few minutes later, his mom and sister came back, looking disgusted. He raised an eyebrow when they came up, and asked, "What took so long?"

  
  


His mom answered as she put Lorelei into her car seat. "First, we had to wait in line, then all but one toilet wasn't clogged. And the floor was filthy, and wet." she made a unusual sound from her throat, and sat down in the front passenger's side.

  
  


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This was it. Only an hour away from seeing Helga! He looked down at his watch, to see that it was 3:00. The ferry was to arrive at 3:15. He groaned, and rested his head on his arms. Soon, he felt someone sit down next to him, and heard whoever sigh. He looked up, to see a girl of about his age. She had long auburn hair, in a ponytail held with a lime green bow. She had on a lime green spaghetti strapped shirt with the words 'Angel With a Temper' in pink and a heart in pink, azure with violet speckles capris, and brown sandals. And a mood watch, which she kept glancing at. He sat up straight, slightly smiling at her.

  
  


"Um, hi, I was wondering, is the ferry usually late or early?" he asked, and the girl glanced at him as if he was asking about something totally private.

  
  


"Well, if you can't remember-"

  
  


He cut her off, and held up his hands. "No, it's not that, it's just that I've never been here before. I don't know." he said, with a shrug. The girl half smiled, and shook her head, looking off towards where the ferry was supposed to come in.

  
  


"Well then, I guess I'll tell you. It's usually right on time, except it takes forever to wait to get on, because they have to wait until everyone is off, then they begin letting other people on. It's as simple as that, and, oh look! Here comes the 3:15 one." she said, pointing towards the direction she was looking. "Well, see ya. Oh, I didn't catch your name." she turned back to him as he stood up.

  
  


"Arnold Dennison," he answered, and the girl nodded her head.

  
  


"I'm Emmaline Mimis," she told him with a smile, then turned, and walked off in the direction of the line of people waiting to walk on. Suddenly Arnold heard his name being called from the door, and turned around. His dad was standing in the door, motioning for him to follow.

  
  


He followed his parents and sister out to their car, because they were going to drive on, because if they didn't, they would have to park their car there, and it would only be able to stay there for 24 hours. They waited for about five minutes, until the line began bit by bit moving forward. This was just to slow, according to Arnold. He sighed heavily, and drummed his fingers on the hand hold of the door.

  
  


Finally, it was THEIR turn to go on, and evidently, they had been the last in the car line, because the people that let them on pulled a orange stretchy fence across the entrance. They parked on the level two parking area, and got out. Stella helped Lorelei out of her car seat, then walked around to the stairs, and walked up them, holding her daughter's hand. Miles followed behind them, and Arnold behind him, smiling widely. This was it, only an hour away from getting to Friday Harbor, and seeing one of his best (ok, not best, but... good) friends again.

  
  


When they got to the top of the stairs, they saw chairs, lining the walls, some with tables, some without. They saw a 'just mopped, watch your step' sign, and a few vending machines. There were windows at each booth at each end of the ferry, and there were areas at the front and the back where you could go out onto the deck, or be in between the inside and the outside, just perfect. There was a cafeteria, with chairs and tables included. Stella and Lorelei were already sitting at a booth, staring out at the ocean, and Stella was teaching Lorelei something. Arnold looked around, wide eyes, and an open mouth smile. It was cool! He had never been on a ferry this big, but he had always wanted to, and he thought it was neat that a boat could hold so much and not sink.

  
  


Miles walked over to the women, and as he did so, he slightly slipped on the wet floor, but caught himself on the table. Lorelei and Arnold laughed, while Stella just said, "It's a wet floor, honey."

  
  


"Ahh!" Arnold let out a cry of surprise when the boat moved, moving him just so much that he would slip on the wet floor and land on his rear end. Once he hit the floor, Lorelei began giggling. Arnold frowned at his younger sibling, and stood up, wiping his pants off. "Ah man, now my pants are soaked!" he sat down roughly in booth, and sighed, exasperated. Miles slightly chuckled, and patted Arnold on the back.

  
  


"Ah, don't worry about it, it's fine. Your pants will dry off soon." he reassured his son, and then glanced down at his watch. "At least they'll probably be dry once we get to Friday Harbor. Probably not before then, though." he said, and looked up to see Arnold resting his head on his arms, which her on the table. "You all right?"

  
  


"Yeah, I'm fine, except the fact that I fell on a wet floor, and am feeling a little dizzy." he said, with a large sigh. Stella looked at him, and furrowed her eyebrows, then looked to Miles, who was just nodding his head.

  
  


"Yeah, I felt dizzy the first time I was on a ferry before, too."

  
  


"I feel like the world is tipping from one side, to the other, to the other, to the other. Oh, and this isn't the first time I've been on a ferry. I've been on a smaller one before." Arnold looked up to the window, and saw that they were a little ways away from the dock. He smiled, and then looked to the side, to the pop machine. He stood up, walked over to it, bought a Pepsi, and then walked back to the booth, opening the can. "I can't wait until we get there. Only..." he looked to his watch, and his face fell. "58 more minutes." he sighed, took a sip, and slammed the pop down on the table. "Pooyfoof." his parents looked at him strangely, and he just shrugged. "Something I heard from one of the girls in school. Same grade as me. You've met her before, you know, thick curly copper hair, blue eyes." his parents nodded their heads, and began talking about something. (that girl he explained is ME! I say Pooyfoof when I'm angry... I just had to add me somewhere in one of my fan-fics, ya' know?)

  
  


_______________________

  
  
  
  


A half hour later, (only 28 minutes now!) Miles and Stella were still talking, Lorelei was beginning to get antsy, and Arnold was resting his head on th table, trying desperately to fall asleep. It wasn't working, and hadn't been for the past half hour. The time seemed like 5 hours, and he was BORED. Not to mention dizzy. 

  
  


Suddenly, Lorelei spoke up. "Mommy, I'm hungwy." she said, turning to Stella, who looked down at her, and smiled.

  
  


"All right, Lorelei, let's go get a hotdog, or a snack of some kind. Which sounds better?" she asked, and Lorelei laughed, crawling out of the booth.

  
  


"Whatdya think, mommy?" she asked, running towards the cafeteria, not once slipping on the still slightly wet floor. Stella followed her daughter, nodding her head.

  
  


"Yes, I figured you'd want a hotdog." she said as she disappeared around the corner, into the cafeteria.

  
  


Arnold sighed, and lifted his head up, blinking. He felt slightly tired, but more bored, and dizzy. He never got sea sick, or motion sickness, but this was getting to him. The ferry would rock one way, then another, so far that it was like it was sinking into the water. Right now, it was leaning that far to the right. (RIGHT now, it's leaning to the RIGHT... lol) He rubbed his eyes, and yawned, resting his head back down on his arms. (I'm writing this while I'm really tired [well no wonder, look at the time, it's 12 after midnight, and I woke up early], can you tell? I keep making Arnold yawn or rub his eyes or something like... that... *falls asleep*)

  
  


"So, does Helga know you're coming to visit her?" he heard his dad asked him, and he sat up, shaking his head. He looked out the window, and sighed.

  
  


"No, she doesn't. I didn't send her any 'warning.'" he laughed, and shook his head, thinking about the way he lied to Gerald and Phoebe so they wouldn't think he just wanted to go visit Helga because he missed seeing her. Well, he just missed her like someone misses a best friend (he thinks ^_^), but if he said he did know her address and everything, Gerald would continue teasing him. He just hated being teased by anyone. Well, except one, and he was going to visit her now.

  
  


"Ah. From what I heard from Gerald, you told him that you didn't know where Helga lives except for her boat's name." Miles said, and Arnold looked down, biting his lip.

  
  
  
  


"Well, he was teasing me about wanting to visit my 'dream girl,' and it wasn't the truth, and I hate being teased like that, so... I told him that. And when did Gerald talk to you?" he asked, looking back up at his dad. Miles just chuckled.

  
  


"Oh, that was earlier, when I was the only one awake in the car. He called, wanting to talk to you, and I told him that you were asleep. He then went into his message, and told me everything that you had said to him. Arnold, you were taught not to lie. You know better than that." Miles' look turned from happy, to serious, in a second. Arnold looked down, and sighed.

  
  


"I'm sorry... I won't do it again, don't worry. Well, I'll TRY not to, but I can't make any promises." he looked up at his dad with a half smile, and immediately his dad was back to smiling.

  
  


Soon, Stella and Lorelei came back into the room, with 4 hotdogs, and 4 different kinds of pops, in cans. She handed one of the hotdogs to Miles, then laid one in front of Arnold, laid one in front of Lorelei's spot, and then sat down, still holding her own. They had skipped lunch, so all of them were hungry. And even though Arnold felt almost seasick, eating sounded good. Come to find out, he was mostly hungry, and after he ate it, he felt much better.

  
  


____________________________

  
  
  
  


Helga walked out of the King's Market, with a new packet of gum in hand. She was thankful that the grocery store was in walking distance of the docks, 'cause it was uphill, and she didn't get along well with uphill. Never had, never would. She walked down the hill, towards the small grassy area and fountain that she hung around whenever she got bored. She figured she'd wait there for her best friend (other than Phoebe... Phoebe was still her best friend, but she was waiting for her best friend who lived on a boat, too) at the fountain, since they always met there. Her best friend had went away to visit family for the weekend, and was coming back today.

  
  


She sat down on the rock-like fence around the fountain, and placed a piece of gum in her mouth. She turned towards the ferry landing, to see a ferry coming in. She smiled when she saw it, and ran a hand through her hair. That was her best friend's ferry, she knew it. Plus, she had told her that she would come on the ferry that left at 3:15. That was the one. She had the schedule memorized, from having a few friends working for the ferry itself. Of course, the friends were older than herself, since she was only 14.

  
  


She watched as people walked off the ferry, and drove off. She spotted her best friend in the line of people walking out, although she was so far away, and saw Emmaline's family's car drive off the ferry also. (Yes, Emmaline is Helga's new best friend, and Emmaline likes walking on better, because she can stop by the ice cream parlor on the way to Helga and her meeting spot... hee, hee, hee)

  
  


After waiting for a few minutes, she saw Emmaline walking up the stairs that came from below the fountain. Just like always, Emmaline had a cookies 'n' cream ice cream in a waffle cone (I always get that when I'm there... MMM!! It's goooooooooood) in her hand, and she was licking on it. Helga stood up, with a laugh, at seeing her best friend chowing down, like always. "Why are you always stuffing your face every time I see you, ay, Em?" she asked, and Emmaline just shrugged, raising both her eyebrows.

  
  
  
  


"Maybe because I'm always hungry." she said, and Helga shook her head with a laugh. Luckily, she didn't choke on her gum, but it made her remember that she had popped a piece into her mouth.

  
  


"Then how come you're as skinny as me then?" she asked, and before Emmaline could answer, they heard a suddenly cry. They looked around to the source of the sound, to see a little girl, standing on the bottom step below the fountain, facing them. The little girl was obviously crying, there was no doubt about that. She looked about four, had short brown hair up in pigtails held with little pink bows, brown eyes, wore a pink and purple striped dress with short sleeves, and pink sandals with velcro. Helga looked to Emmaline, who was staring at the little girl with a sympathetic look. "Emmaline, should we help her? She's just a little kid, but some mugger or someone of the sort could have told her to stand there and cry until someone comes, so he could steal from them!" she said, and Emmaline looked to her with a look that obviously didn't believe a word Helga was saying.

  
  


"Oh come, Helga, what kind of sicko would actually do that kind of a thing? Really, sometimes I wonder about you." she faced forward, and walked down the steps to the little girl. Helga followed closely behind. They bent down to be eye level with the little girl, and both smiled. The little girl backed up a bit, looking between the two older girls. "Hello little girl. Why're you crying?" Emmaline asked, and the little girl sniffled a couple times.

  
  


"My mommy and daddy were pawking the caw, and I dethided that I would expwore. My big brothow wath watching me, but I swipped away fwom him, and now, I can't find them!" she cried, rubbing her eyes, and looking up at Emmaline then Helga. "Can you hewp me find them?" she asked, and Emmaline nodded her head quickly, looking at Helga.

  
  


"Helga, we need to find this little girl's family. What do you say?" she asked, and the little girl's eyes widened. The two older girls didn't notice this, though. Helga bit her lip, and looked down at the concrete below her feet.

  
  


"Ok, I guess we'll help her." she looked up at the little girl, who was staring at her, and smiled. "By the way, what's your name, little girl?" she asked, and the girl smiled, grabbing the edge of her skirt, and doing a cute little curtsy.

  
  


"Lorelei Dennithon. And, you'we name ith Hewga?" she asked, and Helga nodded her head, smiling. Lorelei smiled wider. "Ah, ok." Helga and Emmaline stood up, turned around, and each grabbed one of Lorelei's hands. They walked up the stairs, and towards the parking area. Lorelei looked up at Emmaline, and smiled. "What'th you'we name?" she asked, and Emmaline smiled.

  
  


"Emmaline," she answered, and they continued walking in that direction. Suddenly they heard someone shout out the name Lorelei, making Lorelei smiled wide.

  
  


"That'th my big brothow!" she shouted, and pointed toward the parking area. Neither of the older girls could see anyone, but they figured that she was going by sound, not by seeing. Pretty smart kid. Suddenly, as they were about to walk into the parking area, someone came out from the right (Helga is on the right of the other two) and ran right into Helga.

  
  


"Oof!"

  
  
  
  


"Ahh!"

  
  


Lorelei let go of Emmaline's hand, and trotted over to where her parents' car was. They were busy taking stuff out of the car, and hadn't even noticed that their girl had run away from them, nor that their son had been looking everywhere for her. All they knew was that he was supposed to be watching Lorelei closely.

  
  


Emmaline stood over the two, laughing. Helga looked up from the ground to her best friend, with a death glare, and Emmaline quickly stopped laughing and ran over to Lorelei and her parents. Helga sat up, shaking her head, and holding it. "Next time, please, watch where you're going." she asked, looking to the person who had knocked her over, and was still lying on the ground. Her eyes widened as she saw who it was. Football shaped head, and green eyes. She knew who this was, and obviously, he knew who she was, 'cause he was staring up at her with wide eyes.

  
  


"Arnold!?"

  
  


"Helga!!"

  
  


Arnold sat up from the ground, staring at how much Helga had changed. She had a pretty good figure, and her goldenrod hair now was held in a single down loose ponytail. Her blue eyes seemed more bright somehow, and her complection was less pale. She obviously didn't wear make-up of any kind, and her features were more relaxed. She wore a orange, red, and white horizontally striped t-shirt, red shorts, and white tennis shoes with pictures of cherries on them.

  
  


Helga examined Arnold while he examined her. Her eyes were as wide as his, at how he had changed. He wasn't exactly the little 9-year-old boy she remembered any more. His blonde hair still stuck up in the different directions, except now it was shorter. Not much shorter, though. He still wore his little blue hat, she noticed it right away, and slightly smiled. He wore similar clothes to the ones he used to wear, except the plaid shirt was on the outside of the other shirt, unbuttoned, underneath that shirt was a teal t-shirt, and he had jeans that looked well worn.

  
  


Arnold then snapped out of it, grinned, and embraced Helga, momentarily shocking her. She hugged him back, and just as she did so, Miles, Stella, Lorelei, and Emmaline were walking towards the two. They stopped, and Emmaline broke out into laughter. Lorelei just giggled, and Miles and Stella smiled. "This must be Helga." Miles said, looking right at Helga, who had pulled away from Arnold the minute she heard Emmaline laugh. She stood up, dusting herself off, soon followed by Arnold, who was, instead of dusting himself off, staring at a new tear in his worn pants.

  
  


"Yes, I'm Helga, and you are...?" she asked, and then noticed the resemblance between Arnold and them. She gasped, looking to Arnold, then to Miles and Stella (and Lorelei). "You're his parents, aren't you!?" she asked, smiling, and they nodded theirs heads, also smiling.

  
  


"Yes, we're his parents. I'm Stella, and he's Miles." Stella said, motioning to herself then to Miles. Then Lorelei decided to join in.

  
  


"And I'm hith thithter!" she chirped, making Helga's eyes widen. She looked back to Arnold, who just crossed his arms, and nodded his head.

  
  
  
  


"Yeah, she's my younger sister." he said, then added under his breath, "That gives me a headache." Helga chuckled at him, then looked to him, with a questioning look.

  
  


"I was wondering, why are you here? Not that I'm objecting or anything." she asked with a smile, making him look to his parents then back to her with a slight smile.

  
  


"Well, we were already planning on taking a trip, and I mentioned coming here, because, well... Uh, you are one of my friends, and I missed you." he said, with a slight shrug, and looked down at the ground below his feet. Next thing he knew, he was being embraced again, and his eyes were quite large. After Helga pulled away, he notice the smile on her face. He blinked a couple times, stuttered a couple inaudible things out, then said, "Uh, what was that for? We already hugged." her seemed to light up a little when she laughed. He couldn't help but stare, still wide eyed.

  
  


"That was a thanks for, well, actually caring and missing me enough to visit me. Phoebe wouldn't even visit me." she sighed, and looked towards her right, to the docks. She sighed, and looked back to him, another questioning look on her delicate face. "I was just wondering, where are you staying? If you don't have anywhere yet, you could stay on our boat, if it's all right with Bob and Miriam." she said, glancing back and forth between Arnold and his parents.


	4. Strega Scura, Boat, Spiders, and Floor

OH MY GOSH, I AM _SO_ SORRY! [pulls on hair, gritting teeth] I am such an idiot! I almost completely forgot about my HA! fan-fics! Well, actually, I've been busy writing on my other favorite things (Wild ARMs 1, 2, & 3 [none posted yet], Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht [none posted yet], Dark Cloud 1 & 2, Harry Potter [none posted yet], Rurouni Kenshin, etc), and had kinda gotten into a MAJOR writer's block with HA! BUT, now, even though I _still_ have the writer's block, I am going to write on my favorite HA! fan-fic to write on! I am, again, SO sorry to the people who read this fic! I probably lost your interest, didn't I?

How long did I take to update? A whole year almost? Next month, on the 30th, it will have been a whole year! Omg, I am such an IDIOT... please, please, don't beat me up too badly? ... [gets down on knees, pathetic begging look on face]

**EXTRA NOTE**: I warn you, I haven't been to Friday Harbor since before I began writing this fan-fic, so, I can't exactly remember the way the docks worked, so I might not be exactly correct on some things.

Disclaimer: I own Thomas, Lorelei, Emmaline, Janizzette, and any other characters I just so happen to put in here. And I _do not_ own Hey Arnold!

Quote of the chapter: "So...we finally meet. Now, where does the real you exist?" - chaos from Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht, speaking to KOS-MOS while she's "asleep".

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_****_

Arnold looked at his parents, wondering what their responses would be. Would they say something about it being rude to intrude, or just go ahead and accept the proposition? He hoped it was the latter. Why? He didn't know, but he thought it must just be the fact that he'd never slept on a boat. 'Or, is it, because you want to sleep in a room that Helga Pataki has been in before?' a voice in his mind mocked (A/n: Heheh... guess who? [if you've read 'Farewell, My Football Headed Love', you should know what I mean]), causing him to frown. Of course that wouldn't be the reason, he argued with the voice. 'Hmm... sure, sure. Whatever you want to think, kid. I'm not here to interfere or anything, I'm only your conscience.' the voice drawled sarcastically, fading away.

As soon as the voice left his head, he realized that he had missed something, because everyone was at least two yards away from him, walking towards the docks. Cursing the voice in his mind, and kicking the ground in frustration, he soon ran down the hill after them. Unfortunately, gravity decided to have a say in this, and he soon remembered that putting on the breaks from running down a moderately steep hill was not that easy. "Gah!! Stop! Watch out, I can't stop!" he shouted at random people who got in front of him.

One of them, however, did not hear his warning, and stood right where they were, causing a bit of a collision.

Arnold, annoyed with ramming into someone twice that day, cursed under his breath, and lifted his head up, from it's resting spot on the person's shoulder. He immediately looked at whoever it was' face, and his face turned a bit pink. It was a girl. A very pretty girl. 'Don't make me hurt you. I know your soulmate, I'll have you know, and that's not her!!' the voice, once again, showed up, shouting as angrily as it could. Arnold ignored it, and quickly got up off the girl, stammering apologies.

The girl sat up, narrowing her grey (he prefered to call them 'silver') eyes at him. "Next time, could you warn a girl before you jump her, you pervert?!" she exclaimed, trying her best to fix her shoulder length black with shocking pink tips hair; she then moved to fixing her tight hot-pink tank top with a broken, bleeding black heart on the front; and then lastly, moved to fixing her extremely short soft pink tight shorts, and black flip-flops.

Arnold had to scowl at her exclamation, crossing his arms over his chest. "Excuse me? I think I was just apologizing, and in case you hadn't heard, I HAD warned you, that I couldn't stop. I was trying to catch up to my family, and, well, running downhill isn't that easy, and... oh, no! Uh, er, I... I gotta go, they left without me! Sorry again!" he said in a rush, jumping up, and hurriedly ran after his family, Helga, and Emmaline. "WAIT UP!!"

The five stopped, just as they got to the bottom of the stairs to get onto the docks, and turned in his direction. By the looks on their faces, he noted, they hadn't even realized that he hadn't been with them.

At that thought, he had to frown.

He ran down the wooden planks, and then down the metal staircase, meeting up with the other five. He stood there, bent over, hands on his knees, panting for a bit, his head hung. When he caught his breath, he lifted his head, and glared at them. "Thanks for waiting." he said sarcastically, and straightened back up, looking around. "Well, what are we waiting for now? Let's go!" he said, making hand motions for them to move forward.

Once they were walking, Arnold found it slightly difficult to walk on a dock, finding that it swayed more than the ferry. Once or twice, he found himself almost falling into one of the small boats tied to it. Although, that might have been because he had been too distracted, staring down into the water at the bottom, and the fish swimming around in it.

Helga looked over her shoulder at Arnold, who she saw staring amazedly into the water, walking dangerously close to the edge of the dock. Smiling a bit in amusement, she stopped walking for a bit, until she was right beside Arnold. "You know, if you continue staring into the water, that close to the edge of the dock, evntually you're going to fall in. And, although it's not that deep, there are a few jelly fish in there that I'm sure wouldn't much like having you in there. And, I don't think you'd enjoy it much either." she teased, poking him in the shoulder, and making him look up at her, blinking.

"... oh, right." he replied after a moment, letting what she said register in his mind.

Helga put her hands together behind her back, and continued to walk, glancing at Arnold out of the corner of her eyes. "So... what held you up back there, Arnoldo?" she asked casually, using one of her old nicknames for him.

He blinked in surprise at the nickname, at first, then grinned slightly and shook his head. "I was running down that hill, and, well... I couldn't stop... and, even though I was shouting out to people to get out of my way, this one girl didn't hear me, and didn't move..." he started, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck, chuckling slightly embarrassedly. "We kinda collided. Then she called me a pervert and to tell her the next time I was going to tackle her. Not that I would, jeez, it's not like I _WANTED_ to in the first place -"

"What did she look like?" Helga cut him off, one of her eyes narrowed in thought.

"Well... she had silver eyes and short black hair with hot pink ends... oh, and light freckles... and she wore all black and pink... what's wrong?" when he glanced at Helga, he noticed that she was massaging her temples with her right index finger and thumb, and was shaking her head.

With a sigh, and a chuckle, Helga looked at him. "You've just met _Strega Scura_. Or _'Ragazza che prende il piacere nella tortura della gente_', as Emmaline calls her." she stated, and at seeing confusion flash across his face, she continued. "Oh, sorry, I'm just calling her by what me and my friends call her. _Strega Scura_, in Italian, means _'Dark Witch'_. At least, I think it does. You see, I have decided to create rude nicknames for people by using another language - by use of an online translater - that they don't know. And I told Emmaline about it, so she uses it too, but her nicknames never exactly... well... come out right... if I remember right, the translater said that _'Ragazza che prende il piacere nella tortura della gente'_ means _'Girl who takes the pleasure in the torture of people'_... not sure..."

Arnold slightly nodded his head, once again looking down into the water beside the dock. "So, would Strega Scura be her real name or a nick name you made up for her?" he asked, looking up into Helga's blue eyes, which was slightly difficult, because she was rolling them.

"Honestly, _Cabelo Menino_, you actually think that's her real name, even after I said I knew what it meant? Of course that's a nickname I made up for her! Her real name's Janizzette Lennox." Helga stated, walking ahead of him, then his family, then Emmaline, and turned down a small dock that was right beside a moderately large white boat. She walked to the end of the dock, then grabbed the side of the boat, swung her left foot over the edge of it, then lifted herself all the way over onto it, turning back towards the rest. "You guys should probably use that," she pointed towards a lowered portion of the boat, with no guarding edge around it, so it was easy to use to get on.

Emmaline got on the way Helga did, and the two waited for the four Dennisons to get on. Stella bent down, and lifted Lorelei up off the ground, then placed her into the boat. Arnold then stepped up onto the lowered platform, with a slight bit of difficulty, because the boat and dock were swaying under his feet. When he finally got onto it, he opened the small gate, and stepped inside the normal area of the boat, followed by his parents.

As soon as they were on, Helga said, "Wait here just a second, I'll be right back," and walked up to two sliding screen doors, slid one to the side, stepped inside, and slid it partway closed behind her.

Arnold decided to examine the outside area of the boat while he waited for Helga to come back out. Around the inner-outside area (A/n: Oxy-moron?) were a few white plastic bags filled with black things that Arnold couldn't quite tell what were, a pair of flip-flops, a couple of small car toys ("Huh... must be Helga's little sibling's..." Arnold thought, blinking), and on each side of the sliding glass doors were two white padded seats with no backs and no arms, and plastic coverings. In front of one of those seats, was a ladder, that led up to the top of the boat. Figuring Helga would take a while, Arnold walked over to the ladder, wrapped his left hand around the left bar, his right hand around the right, and began to climb up.

"Hey, you! Uh... Arnold, was it? Yeah, that's right. What are you doing?" he heard Emmaline's voice inquire huffily, and looked down at her, to see her scowling up at him, her hands on her hips. He decided he would ignore her, and glanced up over the top of the ladder, to see four seats like the ones by the glass sliding doors, except slightly bigger, with backs, and their backs connecting two together, so it looked more like only two chairs with four seats. And in the middle, at the front, was a higher seat, with a large wheel in front of it, and a control pannel.

"HEY! I asked you something! And I know you heard me, you looked at me when you did! What are you doing?!" he, once again, heard Emmaline's annoying voice, this time he could tell she was quite irritated. Frowning, he climbed back down, almost falling because at that moment the boat decided it would rock, and turned to look at Emmaline, crossing his arms.

"I was just going to look at the top of the boat. That's _all_." he stated, just as the sliding glass doors slid open, and a little boy with strawberry blonde hair stumbled out, looking around at the four people he did know, with large, curious teal eyes.

"Are you the people my sister told me 'bout?" he asked, his gaze landing on Arnold. "Hey! You're that guy that my sister has a picture of in that pink book!" the boy exclaimed, clapping his hands together once, grinning. Arnold's eyes widened slightly. 'Helga has a picture of me... in a pink book? Ok, now that's... weird...' he thought, blinking.

Just as those thoughts passed through his head, Helga stepped out out the inside area of the boat, smiling slightly. 'Wow... she has really changed, more than I thought...' he thought, his face going slightly pink, when Helga's eyes immediately landed on him. "Helga! Helga! Sissy! It's... it's that boy in your pink book-!" the little boy started excitedly, turning to Helga, while pointing to Arnold, but was cut off when she wrapped her hand around his mouth, laughing nervously.

"Yeah, Thomas, this is Arnold, one of my old friends." she stated plainly, letting go of her four-year-old brother's mouth, and fixing a deathly glare on him, indicating that if he went any further with his sentence, she would no longer be an admirable big sister. Gulping, Thomas nodded, and looked towards Miles, Stella, and Lorelei, his gaze actually landing on Lorelei. "And those are his parents and little sister. Why don't you go introduce yourself?" Helga gave him a push in their direction, and he shyly made his way over to them.

"Hi. I'm Thomas Pataki..." he murmered, looking up at Miles and Stella, then down at Lorelei, who was standing a bit behind her mother's leg, peeking around at Thomas. "Who are you?" he asked, mostly directing his question at Lorelei.

"Hello, Thomas. I am Stella, he's Miles, and she's our daughter, Lorelei. How old are you?" Stella asked, squatting down to be eye-level with Thomas, making Lorelei have to move a bit more to the side.

"Four." he answered, grinning at Lorelei, who smiled back, very slightly.

"Oh? You and Lorelei are the same age... Come on Lorelei, come and say hi." Stella smiled, reaching back, and pushing Lorelei forward, despite her slightly frightened expression.

"Hi, Thomath..." Lorelei muttered, hiding her hands behind her back, and looking back at her mom. Stella just smiled, and nodded once. "I'm Lorelei Dennithon..."

"Hi Lorelei! Wanna see my cars? They're cool! They would like you, and you could play with my purple one! Come on!" he exclaimed happily, grabbing Lorelei's hand, and dragging her towards the cars next to one of the white seats. Lorelei, her face cherry red, looked back at her mom, obviously for help, to get her away from Thomas. Stella just smiled widely, and shook her head, much to Lorelei's horror. Thomas stopped walking, and Lorelei looked at him, to see him holding a small purple hot wheels convertable with silver flames out to her. She took it, looked down at it, then back up at Thomas, blinking.

"... I love cars..." she stated, quietly, smiling a bit at Thomas, who simply beamed like Christmas had come in July.

Thomas turned around, and bent down next to the white seat, reaching underneath it, and pulling out a bit larger of a toy car. As soon as his hand, holding the car, came out from underneath the seat, three moderately large fuzzy black jumping spiders (A/n: That is what I call them, at least) came running out from under it, and as Thomas raised his hand, one of the spiders was raised into the air with it. "... cool! Spiders!" Thomas exclaimed, grinning even more, and whirled around, causing the spider attached to the spiderweb on his hand to fly off it, and right towards - of course - Miles.

The spider landed on Miles' shirt, making him emit a loud shriek. "I HATE SPIDERS!!" he screamed, and began trying desperately to wipe the spider off his shirt. When that didn't work, he began shaking violently, still trying desperately to dust it off. Stella just sighed, smacked her forehead, and shook her head.

Helga was trying hard not to break into hysterical laughter, because while Miles was having a fit because of the spider on his shirt, the two other spiders had crawled in her and Arnold's direction, and Arnold had climbed halfway up the ladder, backwards. Choking back her laughter, Helga stepped on the spiders, and looked up at Arnold, smirking. "You can come down, now, Arnold. The big bad spiders are smooshed." she teased, causing him to scowl, and climb back down.

"Ha, ha, ha. Very, very funny, Helga. Might I mention all those times you've gone into fits over rats? Like that time on the subway-" he started, but was cut off by Helga.

"Ok, ok, so I have a paranoia of rats. You dislike spiders - and I can tell where you get that..." she glanced in Miles' direction, seeing that he was practically doing a jig to get the spider off - the spider that was already off, in the water, and drowned. Chuckling, she looked back at Arnold, who still had a bit of a scowl on his face. "Oh come on, _Cabelo Menino_, I am just teasing you. I've changed - I don't mean it anymore. I mean, I do mean that I now know that you have a bit of a fear of spiders..."

"No I don't, I just... uh... dislike them, like you said." he interrupted, and Helga just snickered, shaking her head.

"Right, right, whatever you say. Anyway, I don't mean any of it in an insulting way. It's ok for everyone to have something they fe... I mean, hate that much. I would be a hypocrite, if I actually meant it, wouldn't I? Don't listen to me." she stated, then suddenly remember why they were there in the first place. "Oh! Right, anyway, Miriam says that it's fine for you to stay here. She said that your parents can sleep on the fold out couch, Lorelei can sleep in the v-berth with me and Thomas, and you can sleep on the floor."

At the last part, Arnold rolled his eyes. "Oh good. The floor."

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**__**

A/n: Ok, so, it's not a very long chapter, sorry about that... but, it's a chapter! And, gah, I meant for it to be funny, but it came out kinda stupid... Grack... sorry... And I'm sorry again about the LONG delay! Forgive me? Please? If you don't, because of how long this took and how bad it sucked and how short it is, then I understand. But I plan to update much sooner this time! I really do!

And please, those of you who actually are still reading this, review! Please! I miss seeing those wonderful little emails in my inbox...


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